1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, relates to a touch panel that can be extended to side portions of devices.
2. Description of Related Art
With the continuous development of the technology, touch panels have become an input device for various communication appliances and information products. A touch panel is stacked over a display module for a user to interact with display frame. In order to transmit signals generated when the user operates the touch panel, a plurality of sensing electrodes are disposed in the touch panel, so as to transmit the signals to a control circuit through a signal line. On the other hand, for a mobile device, the touch panel is usually disposed on a front side of the device, and physical buttons are disposed on lateral sides of the mobile device, so that the user may use some functions through the physical buttons.
At present, the sensing electrodes of the touch panel are mostly fabricated by adopting an indium tin oxide (ITO) film because the ITO film has advantages of transparency and high conductivity. However, because indium is expensive and the ITO film has a material property prone to embrittlement, it is difficult to dispose the touch panel fabricated by using the ITO film on a glass substrate having a greater curvature or a greater bending degree. Accordingly, although many manufacturers wish to extend the touch panel to the lateral sides of mobile devices to replace the physical buttons of the existing mobile devices, there are still technical problems to be solved.